New Delhi, July 4 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to reshuffle his council of ministers on Tuesday by axing six ministers and inducting 18 new faces in the maiden such major exercise since he took power in May 2014, party sources said.

Some of the to be ministers who flew into the capital on Monday from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Uttarakhand, told IANS that they were summoned by BJP President Amit Shah. All of them met Shah over tea in the afternoon.

Frank Noronha, the government’s principal spokeperson, tweeted earlier in the day that a cabinet expansion would take place on Tuesday at 11 a.m. but did not go into the specifics.

Bharatiya Janata Party sources said two dozen names were doing the rounds for induction, promotion or ouster.

The sources said over 15 new faces — one source put the figure at 18 — could find a place in the ministerial council and four ministers of state with independent charge were likely to be promoted to the cabinet.

Shah and BJP General Secretary Ram Lal later met RSS leaders, obviously to brief them about the government exercise. Later, Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met Prime Minister to give the final shape to the list of to be ministers.

Meanwhile, Modi, during an interaction with a group of journalists, said the reshuffle will “reflect the budget focus and priorities”.

There has been speculation of a cabinet reshuffle since the Prime Minister met his ministers on June 30 and reviewed important projects and works of various ministries. This was preceded by his meeting with Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

The reshuffle will be followed by an organisational revamp of the BJP, the sources added.

Tuesday’s exercise will come 27 months after Modi led the BJP to a sweeping win the Lok Sabha polls and months ahead of the assembly election in Uttar Pradesh which the ruling party is determined to win.